Elephants, dragons and Sonic the Hedgehog: How to win the big prize stuffed animal at the North Carolina State Fair

Tens of thousands of people flock to the North Carolina State Fair each year with plans to win the big prize of a stuffed animal.

What’s the best way to do it? It depends on who you ask, especially considering the variety of games.

Among the most popular is the water race fun game. It requires competitors to use a water gun to hit the center target. Whoever is most accurate spraying their water gun at the target, wins the round and a prize.

“It was jubilant,” Matt Phillips said of his win. “It was an amazing feeling.”

Phillips won an elephant with blue, white and purple stripes for his son. He said his fandom of the North Carolina Tar Heels factored into his family’s decision for which stuffed animal to pick.

“I’ve never personally had a pet elephant,” Phillips joked. “I want to give a big shout out to Dumbo and his family.

“We’re going to keep him in a nice, safe place. We love the North Carolina fair.”

On Monday, Lashaye Montague visited the state fair to treat her daughter, who was named to her school’s AP honor roll.

“It feels good,” Montague said. “I have a daughter who loves stuffed animals, so it felt really good to win her something.”

Montague won two stuffed animals playing the water race fun game. One of the prizes was for her 1-year-old daughter.

“I just focused and it was like a little triangle that’s going up to the hole, I zoned in on it and it did it,” Montague said.

Phillips echoed Montague’s sentiments in terms of strategy.

“Pull the trigger, aim toward the center [and] don’t let go until you win,” Phillips said.

Joseph and Leslie Ricks played the water gun shoot for a very specific reason.

“She beat me,” Joseph Ricks said. “She collected pandas.

“She’s got about 2,000 pandas. It was easy.”

Another game requires the participant to knock over three containers by throwing a ball at them.

Jimmy Thompson, who works for Wade Shows, Inc., said the key to knocking over three containers is to hit the bottom.

“You got to hit the bottom to win,” Thompson said.

Thompson has seen all kinds of strategies while working for the past 60 years at state fairs. He said his favorite memory is getting to shake the hand of former U.S. President Richard Nixon. He met the former president in the 1990s at the New York State Fair.

Linda Goodwin-Rios and Arnaldo Rios were born and raised in Long Island, but have called Durham home for the past 13 years. The couple won a stuffed giant green dragon and a stuffed Jamaican banana.

“I was shocked actually,” Goodwin-Rios said of her win.

Monday marked the first time either of them had been to the North Carolina State Fair. Work had always gotten in the way.

“We’ve been trying to get here for years,” Rios said.

Danny Gaines won a giant Sonic the Hedgehog stuffed animal for his grandson by playing shoot out the star.

“[It] was my first time after several years of trying,” Gaines said.

Gaines was stuck lugging around the stuffed animal after his win.

“He’s crazy about it, so that’s the reason he wanted it, so I had to get it,” Gaines said of his grandson’s love of Sonic.

It took Blake Farrell four rounds to win a Sonic stuffed animal for his son, Beau.

“Little man spotted Sonic, and I spent every dollar I had to get it,” Farrell said.

Farrell said he spent $40 to claim his prize. He said his family traveled to the fair from Pittsboro.

“Line it up, go ahead, get your aim ready,” Farrell said. “When he closes that trigger, you’ve got to be ready.”

Other tips to win the big prize at the North Carolina State Fair

People that WRAL News spoke with said to watch other people play, and watch what winners do. Look for patterns in the way games are set up. For example, if you're playing a water gun race, notice which lanes seem to be the fastest.

Also, practice makes perfect. The more you play a game, the better you’ll get at it.

However, don’t be afraid to walk away and try another game. Costs can add up when playing round after round.